LIFE AND LIES #1 : Trouble in Paradise

It's 3 AM. I can't find any sleep. I lock my 1BHK flat and call the lift. It's an old-style one. I am worried that the beeping sound it's making would awaken the inmates. Quickly, I shut the doors. The elevator takes me four floors down to the ground floor. Again, I shut the door, quickly.

The night is a bit chilly. The prevailing silence in the compound is only interrupted by some dogs occasionally barking in the distance. My footsteps must have awakened the night guard for he shakes away his awkward sleeping posture. I don't recognize him. Must be new, I think. I move closer and enquire.

It's his first night in this enclave. He's filling in for someone just for today. Employed by some agency that manages guards from one place to another, he is usually stationed at some resort in Phulbari, Siliguri. There, he works his shift from 8 AM to 4 PM and stays with three other people in a single room. His salary is 6000/- per month. The rent I'm paying for my 1BHK flat is 6000/- per month. 1500/- is cut from his salary for food and uniform. Of what is left some he sends home back in Coochbehar. His family lives in a small village located fifteen kilometres from the main town. His father is a farmer. And he's working here as a night guard with a 6000/- per month salary. Somehow, it must have been an improvement over being a farmer or he wouldn't be here.

I take his leave. As I reach the elevator, I turn to look back. He has gotten up and is walking around in his boots, cap and jacket. A long night awaits him in the open while I resign to the comforts of my flat, to my bed that I had bought recently for 5500/- where I lay awake sifting through the problems of my life.

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